17. Payments, cryptocurrency, and cryptoassets

Abstract

This chapter examines payments, cryptocurrency, and cryptoassets. It first provides an overview of token payments before looking at alternative electronic payment systems including debt substitution, payment by credit cards, and fund transfer. The chapter reviews the failure of the European Commission’s Electronic Money Directive 2000 and examines whether the current law, found in the 2009 Electronic Money Directive, and the second Payment Services Directive provide a better legal environment for electronic money to flourish. It spends considerable time looking at the development of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and how blockchain is used to establish trust in cryptocurrency transactions before analysing the current legal position of cryptocurrencies. It concludes by looking at the new class of cryptoassets, including NFTs, and asks what legally are such cryptoassets by examining the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce report and the Law Commission consultation paper.